For the past few months, people might have seen a man standing on his head taking photographs in areas normally regarded as dangerous.
The man is Huang Ming-cheng (黃明正), a renowned stuntman and a dancer with the Lafa Dance Company, who has been nicknamed “Mr Candle.” Since March, Huang has been traveling around Taiwan taking more than 1,000 pictures from his unusual vantage point.
“I have dreamed about standing on my head and taking pictures since the age of 13,” Huang said. “I’d like to continue my project of standing upside-down and taking photos all over the world.”
Photo: CNA
The 27-year-old said he spent eight months working as a street entertainer to fund the project that began on March 13 in Pingtung County and has taken him 20,000km to spots all over the country.
He takes his photos at locations such as near cliffs, on rocks in the sea, on top of roofs and even on the back seat of a scooter.
“You see things differently when standing on your head,” he said.
Sometimes the weather has been so bad that the wind would threaten to blow him into the sea, but the moment he stood on his head to take the photos, the wind would drop and his mission would be accomplished, he said.
Huang has taken about 1,200 photographs upside-down over the past 150 days.
He first came into the spotlight at the age of 13 when he won the first international prize at the Chinese Wuqiao Stunt Games, one of the world’s four stunt events. He then studied stage and circus stunts at National Taiwan College of Performing Arts.
He joined the Lafa Dance Company in 2008, which he described as a turning point in his life.
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